GESI, Protection & Safeguarding Advisor -Border Security Programme (BSP) at Mercy Corps in Nairobi, Kenya

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    GESI, Protection & Safeguarding Advisor -Border Security Programme (BSP)

    Mercy CorpsNairobi, Kenya

    Posted

    1 week ago

    Apply by

    28 Aug

    Full Time
    On Site
    Senior
    Charity, NGO & Non-Profit
    Security

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    Job Description

    The GESI, Protection & Safeguarding Advisor is a vital role within the BSP and is responsible for developing and overseeing an overall vision for how protection and safeguarding can be maintained across programme interventions and partners, ensuring differentiated approaches across a range of vulnerable groups. This includes remaining abreast of contextual understanding from assessments, ensuring the programme gathers and understands the required information and develops tailored plans and indicators to guide its approaches. The role will work closely with consortium partners to collaborate, support, ensure integrated approaches and quality assure. The advisor will also work closely with the Security Manager to lead on protection and safeguarding risk management.

    Key Responsibilities

    • Ensure human rights, Do No Harm, protection and safeguarding principles, are integrated across all programming and in alignment with standards, particularly where interventions may increase risk exposure for communities.
    • Lead development of protection and safeguarding approaches grounded in risk analysis of related protection and safeguarding risks and informed by GESI with input from programme feedback mechanisms.
    • Identify entry points for protection and anti-trafficking mainstreaming across Outcomes 1–3 and coordinate with HAART on outcome 4.
    • Ensure protection and safeguarding mitigation plans are addressed in program design, workplans, and SoPs.
    • Participate in strategic programme decisions to advise on how to minimize safeguarding and protection risks to communities.
    • Continuously identify and mitigate safeguarding risks linked to law enforcement engagement and collaboration; organised crime dynamics and retaliation risks; community engagement; and in the data management protocols.
    • Work with teams to develop risk mitigation plans for intelligence gathering, security, and community reporting following human rights and Do No Harm principles.
    • Work with security and other risk mitigation functions to regularly review safeguarding risks and mitigation measures.
    • Work with HAART to ensure up to date maps of locally available services and ensure referral pathways are functioning for timely survivor centred referral.
    • Work with MRELA manager and wider teams to enable data protection protocols and that information-sharing follows human rights principles on privacy.
    • Guide safe engagement with vulnerable populations including providing information on best practices and approaches as well as developing SOPs where needed.
    • Work with teams to make sure communication to survivors and communities about law enforcement and OIC processes and project activities are as transparent as possible and explain corresponding rights.
    • Integrate safeguarding and protection risk mitigation initiatives in project implementation plans and established monitoring and reporting frameworks to ensure visibility and actioning of safeguarding and protection mainstreaming initiatives.
    • Work with CARM teams to ensure all community engagement approaches are safe, inclusive, and minimize any exposure of target communities to harm, stigma, or retaliation.
    • Support CARM teams in the design and implementation of contextualized, accessible, and confidential reporting and feedback mechanisms CARM, while ensuring the linkage, visibility and awareness of Mercy Corps primary reporting channels, the Integrity Hotline.
    • Work with program implementation and CARM teams to facilitate regular communication and sensitization of the program purpose, processes, and expectations for clarity and mitigation of risk.
    • Ensure safeguarding is fully embedded within partner due diligence, contracting, and monitoring processes as outlined in Mercy Corps Safeguarding Core Standard on Safe Partnerships.
    • Support the Financ

    Required Qualifications

    • Minimum 10 years' experience in advising or managing anti-trafficking, protection, GBV, child protection or human rights programming.
    • Strong experience in protection mainstreaming, prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse PSEA safeguarding and risk analysis.
    • Experience working with security or justice actors and border contexts.
    • Knowledge of trafficking dynamics, organized crime, and migration systems.
    • Familiarity with GESI, human rights, and PSEA frameworks.
    • Strong understanding of gender equality and social inclusion GESI principles
    • Demonstrated experience ensuring GESI themes are prioritized and integrated in program design, implementation and measurement

    Job Details

    Job Function

    Security

    Minimum Experience

    10 years

    Additional Information

    How to Apply: Interested and qualified? Go to Mercy Corps on recruiting2.ultipro.com to apply.

    Protection & Safeguarding in Border Security: What to Show

    This role sits at the intersection of human rights, security, and community protection. Hiring managers will probe how you've operationalized safeguarding in high-risk environments, especially with law enforcement and vulnerable groups.

    1. Lead with your risk analysis toolkit: Be ready to walk through a specific protection risk assessment you've led. Mention the frameworks you used (e.g., Do No Harm, PSEA) and how you translated findings into mitigation plans.

    2. Show your GESI integration track record: Provide concrete examples of how you've ensured gender and social inclusion were not afterthoughts but embedded in program design and measurement. Quantify if possible.

    3. Demonstrate border context savvy: Highlight any experience with cross-border dynamics, trafficking, or migration. Discuss how you navigated security actors while maintaining a survivor-centered approach.

    4. Prepare for safeguarding scenario questions: Expect hypotheticals about a safeguarding incident. Outline your immediate response, reporting protocol, and how you'd support the survivor.

    5. Emphasize partnership and capacity building: This role works with consortium partners and local actors. Share examples of how you've strengthened partner safeguarding practices, not just enforced compliance.

    6. Know your data protection principles: Be ready to discuss how you've handled sensitive survivor data, ensuring privacy and confidentiality while enabling referrals and reporting.

    7. Align with Mercy Corps' values: Familiarize yourself with their safeguarding core standards and integrity hotline. Show that you can operationalize these in a complex program.

    8. Ask sharp questions: In your interview, ask about the current safeguarding challenges in the border program, how they measure GESI outcomes, and what the first 90 days would look like.

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    Tags

    GESI
    protection
    safeguarding
    anti-trafficking
    PSEA